BTV Sports News
BTV Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It's run by WMFL Corporation under WMFL Worldwide whose sports channels include BTV Sports 1'', ''2, 3'' & ''4, as well as HD1, HD2, HD3 & HD4. BTV Sports News-HD launched in Summer of 2010 and the move to their new studios coincided the launch Overview The channel focuses predominantly on football (especially during the August-May season) but reports on a wide range of sports, even sports to which BTV Sports don't possess broadcasting rights (such as Formula One & Baseball) receive limited coverage. The programming is presented by 2 reporters in the studio who read the news or introduce short clips featuring highlights & interviews covering a variety of topics. Tabs @ the bottom of the screen give unrelated information on a wide range of sports, while a sidebar also shows unrelated league tables or other information. The content of the main studio feed generally repeats depending on the amount of news @ a given time, varying from 20 minutes to an hour. On the 20th of May of 2007, BTV Sports News broadcast the Conference Play-Off Final between Exeter & Morecambe. This was the 1st LIVE match to be shown on the channel since certain European games involving British teams were shown to provide exclusivity when competing as BTV Sports News was not available @ that time via digital terrestrial platforms. This was due to all other BTV Sports channels being occupied by a LIVE sport. This enabled Freeview viewers to watch a LIVE match on BTV Sports. The 2nd LIVE game broadcast on BTV Sports News was Wales v New Zealand on the 26th of May of 2007, it also screened the La Liga tie between Espanyol & Barcelona LIVE in December of 2007 History BTV Sports News was launched on the 1st of October of 1998. On the 1st of July of 2001, BTV Sports News launched another graphics change. A major part of this was the standardisation, i.e. a more corporate look across the BTV channels. The Channel also scrapped it's slogan & just paid attention to the fact of the news. This was clearly a success for BTV Sports News & the channel continued it's services to it's viewers. From April of 2002, BTV Sports News launched yet another face-lift to it's channel & it was the biggest yet. The channel stayed in the same studio, but with a silver look replacing the old wooden bench & there was a promise of being 1st for BREAKING NEWS, along with much more useful information. In 2004, BTV Sports News changed it's image, with a more open blue look to the channel. The titles featured players such as Frank Lampard, Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry & Ryan Giggs passing the football to each other & unveiling the BTV Sports News logo. Programmes such as "The Ford SportsCentre" were dropped & replaced with shows such as The Afternoon Sports Report, The Evening Sports Update, The Morning Report, Through the Sports Night & BTV Sports News @ 10:00. The Channel also previously used a different piece of music for each news programme, the most well-known of these being Republica's "Ready to Go", "Shooting Star" by Deepest Blue & more currently, "Club Foot" by Kasabian Revamps A new look for the channel was introduced @ 7:00 AM on the 5th of August of 2007, in time for the new football season. The revamp is part of a wider reimaging of the BTV Sports brand across all channels. The main presentation structure was retained, including the right hand information box displaying transfers & league table. The ticker @ the bottom of the screen was also retained, however changed from white to red, with the yellow & black BREAKING NEWS ticker being slightly tweaked, but is largely similar to before. 1 of the largest changes occurred with the tocker, which has changed from blue to white & which now has a tabbed effect showing the viewer what headlines are coming next. Along with the changes to on-screen presentation, the revamp also included a new studio, new title sequences & a new theme tune. However, the channel did not change to a 16:9 Widescreen broadcasting format, instead it remained in a 4:3 format as it was before the revamp. All of the old music was replaced & every show used the track Requiem for a Tower, Movement 4 by Corner Stone Cues. On the 5th of August of 2009, the channel received a small make-over with regards to a new music sequence & a new font used for all on-screen displays, this was despite some fans expecting wholesale changes. On the 6th of January of 2010, the channel underwent another slight revamp to the logo & side graphics Discrepancy between Sky & Freeview BTV Sports News is available free to view on any UK terrestrial service (Freeview, Top Up TV & BT Vision). Ironically, the channel is not free to Sky customers. The channel was transferred from the News Pack to the Sports Pack @ the end of 2009 External links